Putin scores

He expanded on John Kerry's gaffe, and offered to negotiate with his pal, Bashar al Assad of Syria, to give up his chemical weapons. His motive is obvious; to keep his puppet Assad in control of Syria.

Putin obtains several advantages. If Obama does anything in Syria, he risks unknown retaliation, and personal humiliation without Congress and public approval, which he does not have.

If Obama commits to Putin's proposition, one of Putin's prime conditions would be to leave Assad alone.

The only thing Obama gains in this is time. It will take attention away from all the "phony scandals" he is plagued with. Russia will retain an important economic customer in Syria; Russia will increase its influence in the East; and last but not least, Putin will expose Obama as an ineffective weak leader of the free world.